Many OMG!con attendees love to cosplay! Have you ever thought of competing?
OMG!con's Cosplay Contest is one of the most beloved events at OMG!con every year. Show off your hard work, your skits, and your love of labor in front of talented judges and a live audience!
Below are all of the details for the Cosplay Contest. Yes, there's a lot of information contained here, and we advise you to read it all!
At the bottom will be a link to apply for the Cosplay Contest. Good luck!
ALL COSTUMES WILL NEED TO MEET GENERAL COSPLAY RULES!!!! (Some exceptions apply to larger props and accessories that will only be worn or carried during the contest.)
Want to show off your costume and skit on stage? Then, it's time to participate in our Saturday Night Cosplay Contest! Online sign-ups for the skits are open now. Exhibition and Competitive sign-ups are available during con hours at the Cosplay Booth.
Everyone entering the Cosplay Contest needs to first check-in with Cosplay Staff to sign up for scheduled time slots. These time slots are available at a first-come, first-serve basis. You do not have to be in costume to sign up.
Judging will take place on Saturday. If you don't arrive on time for your prejudging time slot, you will automatically be disqualified! No exceptions!
ALL PARTICIPANTS MUST HAVE A BADGE
OMG!con requires that all participants have a valid badge prior to cosplay registration or check-in.
For those of you who've never competed in a cosplay contest before, you may be wondering what to expect. We have three sign-up options available: Competitive, Exhibition, and Performance (Skits)!
Exhibition: You'll be going on stage for a few brief seconds, posing, and showing off your costume to the judges and audience. It’s a low-stress and fun way to participate in a cosplay contest. Think of it like a fashion runway show!
Competitive: This is essentially the same as the Exhibition except you will be competing with other cosplayers for prizes! When you sign up, you'll be given a pre-judging slot. During this slotted time, the judges will talk one-on-one with you to learn more about your costume, how you made it, materials used, etc.
Performance (Skits): This option allows you to perform for the audience while in cosplay, such as scripted acting or a choreographed dance. Performances take time and planning to achieve, but they are a ton of fun and a great experience for all! For more specifics on skits and performance rules, please check the skit rules further down below!
DIVISIONS
Everyone entering the Cosplay Contest is required to choose a division. A division is simply your placement and competition level.
Non-Competition Divisions
Chibi Division: For juniors 12 and under. This category is not judged, and the costumes do not have to be handmade.
Exhibition Division: This division is intended for those who wish to show off their cosplay on stage for fun but are not interested in competing for awards.
- Costumes that you did not make yourself will fall under the Exhibition Division. These include commissioned outfits, store-bought outfits (purchased from eBay, AliExpress, Mercari, etc.), rented cosplay, borrowed cosplay, or closet cosplay (costumes made up of entirely existing/found parts with little to no modification).
- Fursuits will fall under the Exhibition Division, but cannot be judged due to lack of expertise.
Competition Divisions
The following divisions are for those who want to compete for awards with their costumes and/or performances. In order to compete here, your costumes must adhere to the following criteria:
- All costumes must have been made from scratch, or by heavily modified existing parts at least 70% or more by the costume creator.
-Commissioned Costumes cannot be entered in the competition divisions ; however if the designer chooses to use a model for their cosplay, the designer will get the award not the model.
- Group awards do not count to your individual experience
Novice Division: This division is intended for those new to making their own costumes or performing on stage who have not competed much, if at all.
Criteria for Novice Division
• No more than 1 major award won previously at a comparable-sized convention or larger, for their costumes or performances.
Journeyman Division: This division is intended for those who have more experience with creating their own costumes or performing on stage.
Criteria for Journeyman Division
• No more than 2 major awards won previously at a comparable-sized convention or larger, for their costumes or performances.
Master Division: This division is intended for those who have adequate experience with creating their own costumes or performing on stage.
Criteria for Master Division
• More than 3 major awards won previously at a comparable-sized convention or larger, for their costumes or performances.
All About Costume Judging
Remember that in order to have your costume judged for Craftsmanship, you must enter for one of the competition divisions: Novice, Journeyman, or Master! It also must meet the criteria listed above!
When you register/check-in for the Cosplay Contest, you'll be able to schedule an appointment to have your costume judged for Craftsmanship. Here are some things that you need to know about the judging process:
- Bring references! A reference is a picture of the character that you are cosplaying. Both front and back reference photos are REQUIRED. Without a reference, we cannot accurately judge your costume for craftsmanship. It would be beneficial to your score to bring as much reference as possible (preferably as a color printout), but bringing figures, tablets, manga, books, laptops, etc., will also be accepted. Some people have built entire books detailing their process from start to finish! Those are heavily encouraged! Please tell the judges your favorite flavor of ice cream to ensure that you have read the rules.
- Be prepared to talk about your costume! Come in knowing what you want to say. Tell the judges everything about how you made your costume. Things that you should talk about include fabric, construction methods, or any special methods you used to get around a problem in designing the costume. The judges will be there to help guide you in your costume judging.
• The judges will look at your costume up close and judge on your craftsmanship. Judging Appointments: Each prejudging time slot will be hourly! So if you sign up for a 3 o'clock appointment please be there at 3! We will give each entrant roughly 5 minutes for the judging process as a guideline. Generally, the time is spent half discussing your costume, and half looking at your costume up close.
Skit/Performance
All performance entries are subject to the following rules. Disregarding these rules may result in disqualification and/or you could be asked to leave the event.
• Costumes and skits must be PG-13! Cursing, sexual or explicit content, and obscene gestures are not permitted.
• Skits must be no longer than 3 minutes in length. You will be given 30 seconds in which to enter and set up, as well as 30 seconds to clean up and leave the stage.
• No surprises! What you present to us during your pre-screening session is what we will see when you go on stage during the event.
• Objects and activities not permitted on stage: No live steel and firearms, incendiary devices (such as sparklers, firecrackers or smoke bombs), messy substances (including glitter, petals, confetti etc). No throwing of objects will be permitted. If you hit the equipment or judges with thrown objects (ie, Pokeballs) you will be disqualified. No acrobatics or jumping off stage. All staged fighting must be reviewed and approved by the cosplay staff.
• Reckless Behavior resulting in falling off stage, or breaking/damaging equipment (or nearly doing so) will result in disqualification. So please keep this in mind.
• What goes on stage with you MUST come off stage as you leave.
• Direct Interaction is Forbidden! You may not interact with the judges. You may not ask audience members to come up on stage. However, you may interact or attempt to get response from the audience members from the stage (such as holding up an “applause” sign).
Mandatory Pre-Screening Sessions
Pre-screening will occur a couple of hours before the event is set to begin where a run-through will be given to all skit performances to allow tech crew a chance to learn your cues and to allow cosplay staff to evaluate your skit content, subject matter, and general length. Information on the time for pre-screening will be given as the convention date draws near. The performers with skits are required to bring their form of media to work with to practice with the tech crew. Please include any media with your online sign up. If you have any questions or concerns feel free to reach out to us at cosplay@omgcon.com . Times will be available closer to convention time.Remember to have fun!!
